Kurdistan: Freedom of expression and womens rights

In December 2010, 15,000 copies of a book called the Hidden Truth was published in Kurdistan.  The author is a religious leader, Mullah Farman Kharabayi.

The book attacks a group of women writers and advocates who struggle for women rights and gender equality in Kurdish society.  The book depicts these women as being the source of all problems in society. It names a number of Kurdish women, accusing them of being anti-Islam, anti-religious leaders/mullahs and propagating perverse ideas leading to the disintegration of families, murder of women, prostitution, divorce and the phenomenon of self-immolation/suicide.

Nazand Begikhani, member of the French PEN Club, is accused of propagating anti-Islami ideas in her writings.

Nazand Begikhani is a poet of international renown, an advocate of women's rights and an academic based at the University of Bristol. She is also the editor-in-chief of the Kurdish edition of Le Monde Diplomatique. Her last written work, an international report on honour crimes produced with colleagues at Bristol and Roehampton Universities was applauded internationally. UK Minister of Middle Eastern Affairs, Alistair Burt, described it as a roadmap to combating honour-based violence.

The writings of Nazand Begikhani mentioned in the book are quoted from an article published in the weekly Hawlati newspaper in October 2008, in which she denounced polygamy, along with an interview with Rozhnama newspaper, December 2008, in which she says that the three monotheist religions participate in women's repression.

All the women who are named have been denounced and accused because of their work and writings advocating women's rights. They include Taman Shakir, Khanim Latif Rahim, Hawjeen Hama Rashid, Rekposh Aziz, Shanaz Barzanji, Almas Mustafa, Gulala Pishdari, Gona Saeed, Tavga Sabir, Kajal Hama Rashid, Niyan Omar, Fayza Jalal, Hozan Mahmud and Sargol Ahmad.

The book incites hatred against all these women putting their lives into danger.

We are concerned that the attacks upon these women is part of a coordinated and recently mounted attack upon the rights of women in Kurdistan by some local Islamic extremists, who misinterpret the term gender equality and denounce its use as a western import that perverts the relationship between men and women.

We are concerned about the personal safety of all those women who have been figured in the book.

It is the duty of the Kurdistan Regional Government, an authority which initiated some important reforms in the past, which have made security and democracy more prevalent in Kurdistan than in the rest of Iraq, to take a firm stand against this extremist force. The government should, not only protect the achievements made by progressive forces in Kurdistan, but also put an end to the extremist activities of these Islamist mullahs, who by their action not only bloc the development of society, but also harm the Muslim religion by giving it a negative representation.

We call on the KRG to:

-          Protect the lives of those women denounced in the book, in particular those who live in Kurdistan;

-          To  issue statements condemning incitement to hatred;

-          To bring perpetrators of such action to trial and ensure justice and personal safety for all citizens;

-          Put into place efficient measures to allow freedom of expression for women's rights activists

We also call on the international authorities to guarantee the rights of all human beings, and that the hope of millions of women across the globe for a better, more developed and democratic world, is not to be jeopardized by incitement to hatred against those who defend these values.

Petition on line:

In French:

http://www.mesopinions.com/Kurdistan---liberte-d-expression-et-droits-des-femmes-petition-petitions-35331ae1014883930a9a443f657889ef.html

In English:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/kurdistan-freedom-of-expression-and-womenrsquos-rights-in-the-face-of-incitement-to-hatred-against/
Email: femmeskurdes@gmail.com